Drag line bucket with corrugated bottom

ABSTRACT

A DRAG LINE BUCKET IS ARRANGED WITH A HAUL CABLE LEADING FROM THE FRONT END, A HAUL BACK LEADING FROM THE REAR END AND A TILT CONTROL CONNECTED TO A TOP FRAME ON THE BUCKET. THE BUCKET HAS A RECTANGULAR BACK WALL AND A RECTANGULAR FLOOR WITH A SCRAPER BLADE AT THE FRONT EDGE OF THE FLOOR. UPRIGHT SIDE WALLS EXTEND UP FROM THE SIDE EDGES OF THE FLOOR AND THEIR FRONT ENDS ARE PROVIDED WITH ROCKER SHAPED RUNNERS TO LIFT THE BLADE ABOVE THE GROUND WHEN THE BUCKET IS TIPPED FORWARD. BENEATH THE FLOOR OF THE BUCKET IS A CORRUGATED GROUND ENGAGING BOTTOM THAT HAS A SHORT UPWARDLY INCLINED FRONT END JOINING THE FLOOR AT THE SCRAPER BLADE. THIS CORRUGATED BOTTOM IS ROUNDED UPWARD AT THE BACK AND THE CORRUGATIONS GRADUALLY DI-   MINISH TO NOTHING ABOUT MIDWAY UP THE WALL. THE HAUL BACK CABLE IS ATTACHED TO THE REAR OF THE BUCKET BY A BRIDLE ABOUT MIDWAY BETWEEN THE TOP AND THE BOTTOM OF THE BUCKET. THE CORRUGATED BOTTOM AND THE FLOOR ARE SEPARATED BY BEAMS WHICH RUN FROM FRONT TO BACK AND EXTEND UP TO THE BACK WALL.

Feb. 9, 1971 J. LOCKHART I DRAG LINE BUCKET WITH CORRUGATED BOTTOM v 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed AugflQ', 1968 INVENTOR. Eph Lac/MART Feb. 9, 1971 J. LOCKHART DRAG LINE BUCKET WITH CORRUGATED BOTTOM 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledAug. 19, 1968 M w mm w m fl m U L-YT h n a J53 BY Feb. 9, 1971' J. LOCKHART 3,561,143

DRAG LINE BUCKET WITH CORRUGATED- BOTTOM Filed Aug. 19, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet a 38 36 39 .5 23 57 23 2s 42 .34 as 30 3! 34 Z9 Z6 0 j 3/ 32 i i I as 30 /7 35 /7 9 l7 INVENTOR. Z0 20 /8 20 75mph Loc/(hmer Mae/1 W Feb; 9,-1971 J- LOCKHART I DRAG LINE BUCKET WITH CORRUGATED BOTTOM 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 19, 1968 INVENTOR. Jszph Loc/(hxmr BY WM 9 4% v v m E :1 tw

United States Patent 3,561,143 DRAG LINE BUCKET WITH CORRUGATED BOTTOM Joseph Lockhart, Rte. 2, Twisp, Wash. 98856 Filed Aug. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 753,457

Int. Cl. E02f 3/81 US. Cl. 37--135 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A drag line bucket is arranged with a haul cable leading from the front end, a haul back cable leading from the rear end and a tilt control connected to a top frame on the bucket. The bucket has a rectangular back wall and a rectangular floor with a scraper blade at the front edge of the floor. Upright side walls extend up from the side edges of the floor and their front ends are provided with rocker shaped runners to lift the blade above the ground when the bucket is tipped forward. Beneath the floor of the bucket is a corrugated ground engaging bottom that has a short upwardly inclined front end joining the floor at the scraper blade. This corrugated bottom is rounded upward at the back and the corrugations gradually diminish to nothing about midway up the back wall. The haul back cable is attached to the rear of the bucket by a bridle about midway between the top and the bottom of the bucket. The corrugated bottom and the floor are separated by beams which run from front to back and extend up the back wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The utilization of the present invention is often in removing dirt, silt and mud from lakes, reservoirs and slowly moving streams. In such operations it is often a problem to level the material dragged out of the water. With the present arrangement I use a power unit on a heavy vehicle that can travel substantially parallel to the shoreline. If the distance across the water is not too great and the opposite shore is such as to permit it to be done, an anchor vehicle can be used on the opposite shore for the other anchor for the drag line. Where the water expanse is too great, an anchor can be placed out in the water on a vessel that is itself anchored and this floating anchor can be moved lengthwise of the shore by the vessel as the work progresses.

The drag line bucket is operated by a main cable that attaches to the bucket and goes to a powered drum on the shore vehicle. A haul back cable goes from another drum on the shore vehicle out to a sheave on the floating anchor and then back to the bucket. A control cable for tilting the bucket for digging, spreading and haul back extends from the shore vehicle out to a sheave mounted on a frame on the top of the bucket, then back to a powered control drum on the shore vehicle.

The need for a bucket that will handle well in all these operations has not been found in the prior art. Such a bucket must have a bottom with ability to release from the wet muck and clay that it rides upon. It must have a rear end that rides over and around obstructions during haul back and it needs runners to ride upon in spreading and leveling the material hauled out upon the banks alongside the place of excavation.

The following U.S. patents are the closest to the present invention that are known to the inventor: Dutcher, 1,383,913; Page, Reissue 21,664; Tucker, 895,915; Van Buskirk, 2,492,905.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The invention is embodied in a bucket, the details of which are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a bucket embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear end view of the bucket;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a side view of the bucket showing it tilted in position to finish or level the load as it is discharged.

The load carrying body of the bucket comprises a flat bottom wall 10 which curves upward at the rear at 11 and is extended to form a rear wall 12. Two side walls 13 and 14 confine the load. At the front end of the bottom wall 10, a scraper blade 15 is secured. The blade 15 may be of any suitable material such as hardened steel to withstand the usage. It may be in sections as indicated in FIG. 1. Corner bits 150 of hardened steel are bolted to the side walls 13 and 14 at the ends of the blade 15 to protect the lower front edges of the side wall.

From the corner bits upward the side walls 13 and 14 are provided with runners 16 along their front edges. The front edges of the side walls extend upwardly and forwardly from the corner bit in a substantially straight line providing portions 13a and 14a at an angle of about 70 degrees to the bottom wall to a level about 40 percent of the height of the side walls. From this level the front edges of the side walls 13 and 14 extend upwardly and rearwardly on a smooth curve providing portions 13c and that meet the top edges of the side walls at points directly over the front corners of the bottom wall 10. The runners 16 are welded on these front edges of the side walls. These runners are flat steel bars about four inches wide. They provide support for the bucket when it is tipped forward for finishing and for dumping.

The principal wear areas and the areas most subject to distorting apart from the corner bits and the blade 15 lie in the bottom of the bucket.

According to my invention a new and effective bottom structure is employed. This structure has the additional effects of breaking the suction effect of soft wet earth on a flat bottom and of providing elevation of the blade above ground surface when the loaded bucket is pulled toward the dumping area over hard ground. This bottom structure comprises the bottom wall 10 with fore to aft running beams 17 beneath it. The beams 17 are arranged as shown, with one beam along the lower edge of each side wall 13 or 14, and a plurality of intermediate beams between them all running to the rear end of the bucket and curving upwardly with the bottom wall 10. These beams 17, as shown, are I-beams which are secured to the bottom wall 10. A wear bottom 18 is composed of plates 19 which are welded to the lower portions of the beams 17 and extend downwardly therefrom and diagonally to form V-members along lines 20 below and between the beams 17, thus forming a corrugated bottom. At the front beneath the blade 15, the corrugations are flattened out so they present front upwardly sloping surfaces 21 to guide the bucket over the earth. At the rear end the corrugations are also flattened at 22 as they extend upward around the curved portions 17a of the beams 17. The extreme upper rear portions 23 of the plates 19 are preferably bent in against the rear wall 12 and secured to it.

The bottom structure just described is separate from the bottom wall 10. If this bottom structure is ripped or worn too thin, it can be repaired or replaced without loss of the main bucket framework and interior. The bottom 10 being protected, can be made much lighter than it would have to be if it were being abraded by the earth over which it is drawn.

The cable attachments are provided on the bucket in the following manner. For a main tow cable 25, I provide a three point connector 26 to which two bridle forming cables 27 and 28 are also secured. These cables 27 and 28 have a spreader bar 29 between them and extend back to couplers 30 and 31 that are pivoted on posts 32 and 33 carried on blocks 34 and 35 which are set in the side plates 13 and 14. A haul back cable 36 is secured by a connector 37 to bridle forming cables 38 and 39. A spreader bar 40 spaces the cables 38 and 39. These cables lead to and are fastened in coupler loops 41 and 42 secured to the rear of the two outer I-beams 17. The control cable connections are made by providing a pyramidal framework 43 on top of the bucket. Frame members 44, 45, 46, 47 and 48 are connected to the side walls 13 and 14 and the back wall 12, and extend upwardly and toward each other to a mounting block 49. The block carries a sheave which is offset forwardly of the block 49 so that a control cable 51 that loops around the sheave 50 will clear the block and the framework 43 when the bucket is tilted during the time it is being hauled back out to take on a new load. A single cable can be used and anchored to the block 49, but I prefer to run the cable 51 out from the shore vehicle around the sheave 50 and back to a control drum on the vehicle.

In operation, to set up for cleaning an area, the power unit which has been referred to as the shore vehicle is located on the bank far enough from the area to be cleaned to allow room to dump, and, if desired, level the material moved out of the area. Across the area an anchor or dead man is provided. This may take the form of a floating barge or where the distance across the area to land permits, a powered vehicle on land. The haul back cable 36 is drawn off its drum on the shore vehicle across to a sheave on the dead man" and brought back to the connector 37. The control cable 51 is brought out from its drum on the shore vehicle to and around the sheave 50 and back to the shore vehicle where it is secured. The main tow cable 25 is brought out from its drum on the shore vehicle and secured to the connector 26. The bucket is drawn out by the haul back cable 36 and then by manipulation of the control cable 51 and the tow cable 25 the bucket is filled, and brought out of the area and emptied. The operation is repeated and the shore vehicle and the dead man advanced as necessary to clear the area.

The present bucket arrangement allows the corrugated ground engaging wear bottom 18 to be repaired and replaced without losing or damaging the load carrying floor. The corrugated bottom 18 makes the bucket front ride high when the control cable 51 is slacked off and the loaded bucket is being pulled by the tow cable 25. The bucket bottom 18 breaks up the vacuum due to wet muck with much less effort than is the case with a fiat bottom.

The bottom construction and the continuation of the corrugations in part around the rear end, together with the bridle attachment of the tow cable and haul back cable serve to make the bucket follow the cables in both directions without slewing around when a corner strikes an obstruction.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A drag line bucket comprising:

a bucket body having spaced apart upright side walls, a rear wall and a bottom floor providing an earth receiving body open at the front and the top;

a scraper blade secured to the front of the bottom floor;

dragline cable connector posts on exterior of said sidewalls adjacent to but spaced above and rearwardly of the scraper blade;

a framework supported by said walls over the open top of said body having means thereon for attaching a control cable;

haulback cable attaching means at the rear of the bucket;

a. plurality of spaced apart beams on which the floor is secured and supported, the beams extending rearwardly from the front edge of the floor to the rear end of the body; and

a corrugated bottom secured to and supporting the beams and providing corrugations extending from front to rear of the body;

said beams and the bottom corrugations being tapered upwardly at the front to terminate immediately behind the scraper blade.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein the corrugations of said corrugated bottom are flattened at the front and back ends thereof.

3. A bucket for drag lines as set out in claim 1 wherein the beams and the corrugated bottom are curved upward at the rear end of the bucket and secured to said rear wall.

4. A bucket for drag lines as set out in claim 1 wherein the front edges of said side walls extend upwardly and forwardly from the bottom edges, then curve upwardly and rearwardly to the top of the bucket; and

runners on the front edges for supporting the bucket when it is tipped forward.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 922,314 5/1909 McCormick 37-135 963,561 7/1910 Hopkins 37--135X 1,108,160 8/1914 Field et a1. 280-28 1,332,609 3/1920 Crawford 37135 1,668,166 5/1928 McKee et a1. 37135 1,989,334 1/1935 Page 37135 2,492,905 12/1949 Van Buskirk 37-135 2,723,471 11/1955 Trundle 37135 2,957,255 10/1960 Larsen 37135 EDGAR S. BURR, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

